Chapter 28 - Getting Down to Business #2
“Wait, you’d just... give us the building?” Jack said, incredulously.
“No, Jack, the block.” Julian clarified. Jack gulped loudly.
“Option two,” Julian continued, glancing at Callum’s face and feeling more worried.
“My legal team buries Cott in a mountain of litigation for various code violations. We force him to perform your repairs under a court order and freeze his ability to sell or develop. But this is a very painful route. It’s slower, it’ll take longer, and it means we’d have a fight on our hands that could drag out over months, even years.
The outcome here is not even guaranteed, and he may still be able to wriggle out of it.
It will be painful based on Cott’s unscrupulous past that my team were able to dig up.
” He opened a document which listed out many illegal things Cott had done over the years, some he’d been punished for, others he appeared to have got away with.
Jack looked at the document, then to Callum, who still hadn’t really indicated how he was thinking or feeling. Jack spoke, “Option one, Julian, that’s a miracle. We’d be set for life.”
“Option one does seem the safest approach,” Julian confirmed. This was clearly his preference of the two, but he could see Callum was not OK. They both turned to Callum.
After a moment, he let out a big breath, his shoulders falling as he finally spoke. He looked at Julian, a knot of unease twisting in his gut. “No.”
“Julian, you can’t just go buying a city block to help us out. I can’t,” he paused, ‘we can’t just take a city block from you as a gift. That’s millions of dollars we’re talking about. I’m not,” again he paused, “we’re not some charity case.”
Jack jumped in, “It’s not charity, Cal. It’s an investment in the community,” he argued, voice rising. “Don’t let your pride get in the way of the kids having a roof that doesn’t leak!” He was clearly trying to tug on Callum’s heartstrings.
“It changes things, Jack!” Callum shot back. “I wanted us to build this with our hands, not have it handed to us on a silver platter because I’m... because of us.” He indicated himself and Julian. He dropped his arms in frustration, not knowing what to feel.
Julian had anticipated this reaction, even from his relatively short time of knowing Callum.
He’d waited and tried to deliver the only options he could see to move forward in a non-confrontational way, but even so, Callum still seemed closed to either of them.
He felt a growing knot in his stomach; how were they going to resolve this?
“Callum, buddy, this is our only hope. Can’t you see that?” Jack implored.
But Callum was unwavering and didn’t speak again, eyes fixed forward.
The friction in the room was palpable.
Julian stayed silent, watching them both, his expression unreadable. He had seen this play out a thousand times in business, but never with someone so close to his heart. It hurt him, and this was a very new and equally unwelcome feeling.
Jack seemed to want to say more, but his shoulders sagged, and he kept silent.
“Just take it away and think about it, please,” Julian said calmly. “I know this is a lot to take in and consider, but you do have to remember the endgame here.” He smiled weakly at Callum. They both knew Endgame was one of Julian’s favourite films, but no pun had been intended here.
More coffee was served, and Jack quietly read through his copy of the dossier.
Callum didn’t know how to feel about this. He should be grateful, but somehow he wasn’t. He knew Julian loved him and was offering them an incredible solution, but somehow it just didn’t feel like the right thing to do.
Julian made small talk, putting his hand on Callum’s shoulder at one point, and whilst Callum did put his hand on top of it, he didn’t say anything. He seemed lost in his thoughts, which worried Julian. He knew Callum wasn’t coping well with this.
The car was called. The boys thanked Julian, Jack assuring him they would read the documents properly, talk it over, and come back to him.
Julian gave Callum a kiss at the elevator, and he managed a weak smile back, but he wasn’t himself.
It hurt Julian to see him like this, but he had half expected it.
As the doors closed, the silence felt heavy.
Jack leaned back against the mirrored wall, staring at his best friend.
“Cal,” he said, his voice devoid of his earlier jokey tone. “You know that guy is completely, 110% in love with you, right?”
Callum blinked, fighting back tears. “Yes, I know that.”
He studied his reflection in the mirrored doors, heart racing.
“He wants to buy you a city block, buddy, just to see you happy,” Jack said, his voice soft. “What’s the deal here? That’s love, that’s what that is. If someone loved me one-millionth as much as that, I’d grab hold of it and never let it go.”
“Yeah,” Callum whispered, “and that’s the problem.”
He felt a wave of pressure descending over him.
The reality check was chilling. He loved Julian with all his heart.
That he was sure of. What frightened him was the scale and extent of Julian’s feelings for him.
Some teddy-bear-themed tee-shirts one day, a city block the next; was this the life he was now destined to live?
And if so, why, when it could be so amazing, did it somehow feel like such a bad thing?